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Between appointments not honored and physical and verbal aggression, the medical profession is alert. According to a recent survey, two appointments a day would not be honored on average.
27 million. This is the number of consultations not honored each year in France, reveals investigation relayed by RTL and launched by the URPS, a union of liberal doctors in the Paris region. This would represent “a declarative average of two appointments not honored per day and peaks of up to five”details the investigation.
Major consequences
The survey recalls that an appointment not honored has significant consequences on the organization of the doctor’s day. It is first of all a loss of chance for the patients. “Appointments not honored by some in fact deprive other patients of access to care. At the level of France, one appointment not honored per day per doctor represents 27,000,000 annual consultations, i.e. the equivalent of the working time of approximately 4,000 doctors (reduced to a rate of 3 consultations per hour and 50 hours of work per week)”says the study.
But also, “ofa loss of attractiveness of liberal medicine at a time when it is difficult to convince doctors to settle”. According to the URPS liberal doctors Île de France, appointments not honored correspond on average to 1 to 2 days of unpaid work attendance per month. A figure that alerts the profession.
To fight against this scourge, the URPS union calls for the impossibility of making two simultaneous appointments, the systematization of SMS reminders of appointments 24 hours before as well as a national information campaign on access to care.
Attacks on doctors on the rise
In addition to missed appointments, doctors also face an increase in physical and verbal violence towards them. In 2021, no less than 1,009 attacks were recorded. According to the College of Physicians, acts of violence have more than doubled in ten years. However, many doctors do not complain.
Verbal attacks represent the majority of incidents (70%). This is the highest rate since 2011. They too are on the rise with 710 cases in 2021 against 637 in 2020. We are talking here about insults, threats or even telephone harassment. As for physical attacks, they represent 9% of cases. In 6% of them, they led to intentional blows and injuries. The reasons given most often revolve around an unsatisfied request from the patient: “reproach relating to coverage”, “refusal of prescription” or “waiting time considered excessive”.
If there are no real solutions to this danger, practitioners try to adopt techniques such as not taking new patients last at the end of the day. The Order “regrets the few complaints filed”only 32% of victims have taken this step and encourages doctors to do so.